One of the oldest tricks in the arsenal of the professional card shark is to let the “mark” win. It might be just a few hands or it might be a series of games over weeks. Whatever it takes to make the victim think he’s on a hot streak. And whether he thinks it’s due [...]
The words “speculating” and “investing” often get used interchangeably. And that’s not surprising, since they describe somewhat similar concepts. In both cases, you are laying out money with the hope of gaining a return in the future. And to muddy the waters further, marketers are prone to use the words to either cast aspersions on [...]
Halloween, as comedian Jerry Seinfeld pointed out, is the best possible holiday a child can imagine. You simply go door-to-door and the neighbors give you handfuls of candy for free. But according to Kerry McDonald, trick-or-treating and the extensive trading of candy afterwards illustrate several important principles of a free market. The very concepts that [...]
Crime novelist Catherine Aird observed, "If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." This seems to be the role of AMC Entertainment, the movie theater chain whose stock has soared in recent months. Earlier this year, as pandemic restrictions took their toll on in-person entertainment businesses, AMC [...]
You might have heard about the gas shortage that occurred in early May due to the infection of Colonial Pipeline’s computer systems with ransomware, courtesy of unnamed hackers. This incident is just the most recent in a growing number of cyberattacks on cities, schools, and even hospitals - the aim being to infect a computer [...]
Scrolling through pictures on my phone from about a year ago, I came across this stunning reminder of what a wild ride the last 13 months have been. That evening, I literally paused the broadcast to take a picture of my TV screen. It was March 13, 2020. The headlines were catastrophic. So, as we [...]
Roy Sullivan was enjoying a quiet Saturday morning of trout fishing when the lightning bolt struck. It hit him on the top of his head and exited his lower body, causing burns down his chest and abdomen. Stunned by the strike but still alive, Sullivan was returning to his car when a black bear charged [...]
On June 9, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule—the most famous and controversial set of investment regulations you’ve probably never heard of—is going to start taking effect. The rule promises better protection for investors who employ financial advisors to help manage their retirement accounts, including rollovers into an Individual Retirement Account. The Fiduciary Rule [...]
Investment Demons: Are you a Self-Deceiver? I've mentioned this before in relation to long-term investment strategies: Sir John Templeton (the father of international investing and considered one of the great investment icons of the twentieth century) often advised that you have to look foolish (sometimes even stupid) in the short-term in order to look [...]
Don't Fall For the Siren Song! The Deceptive Returns of Active Managers I tend not to like reinventing the wheel; there are a number of great authors out there who are ‘singing our song’ - that is discussing the research vis-a-vis what Wall Street hypes. When markets are negatively volatile, it’s easy to get [...]